Industrial action

Workers have a legal right to take industrial action over terms and conditions, even if they are not their own.

The facts

The communication union, CWU, organised an industrial action ballot, following BT's decision to introduce a productivity scheme for certain workers, but on a voluntary basis. Some of the members being balloted would not have been included in the productivity scheme. The employers argued that the ballot was unlawful.

The ruling

The High Court held that the terms and conditions over which industrial action is called do not have to be those of the workers being balloted. The court held that to limit the right to ballot to those directly affected by any proposal would deny to the union any representative functions. However, it did go on to rule that the ballot was unlawful because the union did not provide a breakdown of the numbers employed in different categories who were being balloted, in circumstances where the union had the information.

BT v CWU [2004] IRLR 58